Friday, June 6, 2008

Signing and Notarizing

Today is a big day. First of all, it's Friday! Woo-hoo! And it's hot as hell here. It's supposed to be 99 degrees today. Yuck.

It's a big day because Husband and I are signing and notarizing the surrogacy contracts today. Then we will mail them to our GS for her and her husband to sign and notarize, and then we will be official! It's been around 9 months (isn't that auspicious) since we met her and definitely 9 months since we seriously started considering surrogacy, and it's great finally to be at this point. Now our next big hurdle will be making sure her uterus is as perfect as it was declared to be last year before she became pg with surro baby #1.

I finally got the results of my CD3 labs. Turns out I could have called the patient system for it. Too bad I didn't know that since I wasn't given a card with instructions! Oh well. Anyway, the results were pretty good. E2 was 19 and FSH was 7.3. My FSH is a bit higher than I would like, but I bet that the endo-covered right ovary has something to do with that since I've read that cutting away some of the ovary can reduce that ovary's functionality. But now I'm wondering what those 7 other cysts are. They clearly aren't estrogen-producing. Are they brand new endo cysts? Are they cysts that are in the process of resolving? Guess I shouldn't worry about it too much.

My friend K with the newborn returns to work on June 16 after only a 6-week maternity leave. She works for a small company and is ineligible for FMLA. She has 3 weeks of paid leave via sick/vacation days and 3 weeks of unpaid leave. I feel bad for her. I had diligently saved my sick leave in order to have my 12 weeks of FMLA paid, but that was before I knew about our IF. I suspect that surrogacy will be treated like adoption here, so I'm eligible for 6 weeks of paid leave via my sick leave and the other 6 weeks will be either unpaid or paid via vacation days. It sucks because here I am with all this sick leave I won't be able to use for my own maternity leave, and many of my friends barely get any maternity leave and have to return to work after so little time. I hate how maternity leave is handled in this country.

I'm starting to worry about jinxing myself. Ladies, I'm a worrier, and I often worry about silly things. I'm so excited that we are making progress finally, and I've updated friends and family who are in the know about the latest developments. Now, however, I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. I'm waiting for her uterus to be declared unsuitable. I'm waiting for the cycle not to work or for me to have a horrible cycle and not produce decent (or any) embryos. I'm trying to tell myself that 1) it's ok to have hope (really? me? hope?) and 2) it will be a relief just to be actively doing something because even if surrogacy doesn't work, we are journeying down our path.

Ah, I'm a worrier, too, but I just prefer to call myself "pragmatic". I mean, if anything does go wrong, we'll be the ones who are prepared for it, right?

All the same, I hope (there's that word again!) that all of your worrying will be for naught. And I hope you can pause your worries long enough to take in how exciting this whole situation is. I'm so excited for you! Woohoo!!!

Congratulations on making it to this point! That is wonderful news. And, from a Class A Worrier, my recommendation is to just enjoy the moment. Also, you can't do anything about the future, so try not to worry about it too much. Easier said than done, I know.

Hi! Congrats on getting the contract work done!! It is a relief to get that squared away. I've found your blog from the stirrup queen's list. I'm on round two for a cycle try as a surrogate right now. Here's to hoping she has a perfect uterus! :)

Hi. I just found your blog and I'm reading with great interest as I just adopted a baby boy 3 weeks ago and the birthmother is interested in being a surrogate for us to have a second child, using donor eggs and my husband's sperm. Of course, we need to focus on our new little boy right now, but I definitely want to research the surragancy process while the birthmother is considering. If you have any time to reply with recommondations for legal paperwork needed for the process, I would greatly appreciate it. Also, I want to wish you the best for a successful procedure. I too went through failed IVF in 2007 and 3 prior miscarriages before that. These last 3 years of waiting for a child have been so very tough but finally, our dream came true and I'm finally a mother. YOUR day will come too so hang in there and keep the faith! sincerely, Katrina